Great Lakes: IRIN Weekly Round-Up, 9/5/97

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IRIN Weekly Roundup 20-97 of Main Events in the Great
Lakes region, covering the period 29 Aug-4 September
1997

[Please note IRIN's weekly round-ups will now be issued
every Friday, covering the preceding week. Daily updates
will be issued Monday to Friday.]

BURUNDI: Regional summit decides to keep sanctions

Regional leaders, who met in the Tanzanian capital Dar
es Salaam on Thursday to discuss the crisis in Burundi,
decided to maintain economic sanctions against the
country and rejected the offer of mediator Julius Nyerere
to stand down. Burundi had accused Nyerere of a lack
of neutrality and bias against the government. Nyerere
offered to stand aside if it would help the peace process,
but said his place would have to be taken by regional
countries and the international community. Burundian
head of state Pierre Buyoya was not invited to the
Dar es Salaam meeting which grouped the leaders of
Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) and Zambia. Joint OAU-UN Special Representative
for the Great Lakes region Mohamed Sahnoun and OAU
Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim were also present.
Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi boycotted the meeting,
accusing regional countries of demanding tough measures
against Burundi which they then failed to enforce.

The Burundi government meanwhile proposed holding peace
talks on September 29 but stressed they should not
take place in Tanzania. All-party talks, under the
mediation of Nyerere, collapsed last month after the
Burundi authorities declined to attend the meeting
in Arusha.

The collapse of the fragile peace process in Burundi
coincided with increased tension on its border with
Tanzania. Burundi maintains Tanzania is harbouring
Hutu rebels, while Tanzania counters that Bujumbura
is planning to stage cross-border military strikes
on refugee camps. On Monday, Burundian Energy and Mines
Minister Bernard Barandereka claimed Tanzania was trying
to "annex" Burundi by allowing Burundian
rebels to maintain bases on its territory.

DRC: Question mark still hangs over UN rights probe

The stop-start nature of the UN human rights investigation
continued as the DRC authorities wavered on whether
to allow it to proceed. After over a week of wrangling
the mission was finally given the go-ahead on Tuesday,
only to be held up by non-delivery of the formal letter
of approval from President Laurent-Desire Kabila. A
UN spokesman on Wednesday said this was due to "coordination
problems at the government's end".

Earlier in the week, DRC Justice Minister Celestin Luangi
had repeated the government's concerns over the investigation
into alleged refugee massacres. He accused the UN mission
of "deviating" from its assigned task and
prior agreements, saying this represented a "violation
of national sovereignty and interference in internal
affairs." The minister claimed the team had arrived
in DRC without prior warning and that it was made up
of 27 people instead of the agreed 12. He also said
there were six security officers in the mission, although
it had been understood there should be no security
people.

UNHCR announced it was planning the further repatriation
of DRC refugees from Tanzania, following the successful
return of 573 people by boat from Kigoma to Uvira on
Wednesday. Another 600 refugees are expected to be
repatriated on Saturday, and after that up to 1,200
people would be returned per week. According to a UNHCR
spokesman, the figure could rise to between 4,000-5,000
after a second ferry has been repaired.

There were signs of growing unrest in eastern DRC after
humanitarian sources reported that rebel groups had
taken over the town of Bunyakiri, about 80 km north
of Bukavu. The town had reportedly been abandoned by
troops from the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the
Liberation of Congo (ADFL) and was believed to have
been taken at the end of last week. Aid workers also
described the situation around Goma as very tense.

RWANDA: First woman genocide suspect appears before
ICTR

A former Rwandan government minister, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko,
became the first woman to appear before the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha. Nyiramasuhuko,
minister of family affairs and gender promotion in
an interim government after the death of former president
Juvenal Habyarimana, pleaded not guilty to charges
of genocide and crimes against humanity. Her son, Arsene
Shalome Ntahobari, who also appeared on the same charges,
declined to plead because his assigned counsel was
not present.

In Rwanda itself, the prosecutor of Kigali's military
court requested 15-year prison terms for four army
officers accused of massacring some 100 civilians in
Gisenyi prefecture two years ago, AFP reported. The
four were said to have killed between 80 and 110 people
in Kanama after Hutu rebels killed an RPA officer.

SUDAN: Opposition claims gains

Sudan's opposition claimed its fighters had captured
a garrison near the border with Eritrea and were advancing
along the strategic Port Sudan road, AFP reported on
Tuesday. In a statement distributed in Asmara, the
National Democratic Alliance said the "area, village
and strategic garrison of Ardawit" had been "liberated".
Meanwhile, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba offered
to mediate in the 14-year old Sudan conflict, adding
his voice to that of South African President Nelson
Mandela who hosted face-to-face talks last weekend
between Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir and Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni in Pretoria. Leader of the
rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) John Garang
also met Mandela in Pretoria but refused to see Bashir,
vowing instead to continue the war. Last Friday, the
SPLA claimed it had seized control of three districts
in the Nuba mountains, according to AFP.

Displaced people are dying from disease in southeast
Sudan, according to Sudanese newspaper reports this
week, quoted by AFP. In Blue Nile state, Kurmuk provincial
commissioner Abdallah Awad al-Tayeb said many people
displaced by fighting in January had died in camps
in Kurmuk and other parts of the state. He blamed polluted
water and dehydration for the deaths. The commissioner
added that a committee had been set up to establish
the death toll.

ANGOLA: Savimbi accused of plotting to kill officials

An Angolan television report on Wednesday accused former
rebel leader Jonas Savimbi of plotting to kill prominent
Angolan political leaders, including government officials
and army officers. However, an official of Savimbi's
ex-rebel movement UNITA described the claims as "stupid
and totally without foundation". The UN Security
Council is to impose sanctions against UNITA, saying
it has not fulfilled its obligations under the 1994
Lusaka peace protocol which formally ended Angola's
civil war. The sanctions are due to go into effect
on 30 September, but UNITA has said it will comply
with the Security Council's demands.

CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE): Peace talks resume

Peace talks resumed in Libreville, Gabon, on Monday
between the warring sides representing President Pascal
Lissouba and his rival Denis Sassou Nguesso. Renewed
fighting broke out ahead of the latest round of talks.
Mohamed Sahnoun, joint UN/OAU Special Representative
for the Great Lakes region, later described the talks
as "encouraging". Meanwhile, the Congo (Brazzaville)
government closed the main remaining river ports for
traffic from Brazzaville to Kinshasa, apparently for
security reasons. Two other ports, in northern parts
of Brazzaville controlled by Sassou Nguesso's militia,
have already been partially shut.

Nairobi, 5 September 1997, 11:00 GMT

[ENDS]

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